10 months ago

Worse than that, if you somehow make Lazav, the Multifarious a double-face card, maybe by making a Delver of SecretsFlip a copy of him, the way copy effects are handled keeps jumping through these hoops from actually paying off. Let's say you have your Delver of SecretsFlip that's a of Lazav and you have it copy another Delver of SecretsFlip in your graveyard (so now it's almost back to being what's printed, except its named Lazav, the Multifarious, is legendary, and has a cool extra ability to change what it is). During your next upkeep you reveal an instant from the top of your library and transform your creature. It's now got it's Insectile Aberration side face up, is still legendary, is still named Lazav, the Multifarious, still has the ability to copy other things, and is still a 1/1 with an upkeep trigger. Even though it transformed, it's still copying Delver of SecretsFlip, not Insectile Aberration

Monastery Swiftspear's haste allows it to sneak in for (potentially) massive damage against an unsuspecting opponent. The turn after my opponent swings in, I can drop Monastery Swiftspear + Assault Strobe + Mutagenic Growth and swing for 10 damage... While that particular combination is a bit magical christmasland (though it's happened often enough that it's not that farfetched), it is true that this deck late game is often looking to squeeze in those last few points of damage, and swiftspear is just faster

1 year ago

Another point on this is that when the card leaves the battlefield it will no longer be a copy. If Clone is a copy of Golden GuardianFlip and it dies after using the fight ability, the triggered ability will trigger to return it, but because it cannot be transformed it will remain in the graveyard on resolution. If Delver of SecretsFlip is a copy of Golden GuardianFlip (perhaps from something like Mirrorweave) and it dies after using the fight ability, the triggered ability will trigger and return it to the battlefield as Insectile Aberration, it will never be the land.

You also won't need so many lands. The ones you have are also kind of a problem because a lot of them always come into play tapped. Modern tends to have fewer turns than other formats, so you having lands that can never enter play untapped will lose you a lot of games. Any lands that do enter the battlefield tapped need to do something really good to warrant this. Therefore, I'd change:

Lastly, you'll need a sideboard. These are the cards that are useful for your deck, but only against specific kinds of threats. You're allowed to swap cards in and out of your deck between games after the first in a match (tournaments are best 2-out-of-3).

From here, you should have a decent deck to take to your local shop to play with, but there's still some things you'll need:

Serum Visions is beast mode in Delver because it's one of the most consistent ways to flip Delver of SecretsFlip in Modern. They're a 4-of, but fluctuate between $2 and $8, depending on the market. They're pretty cheap right now due to being reprinted in Eternal Masters, but they've definitely been higher. You should be playing these over Peek and if they're within your budget right now, go get them.

Speaking of which, Jace, Vryn's ProdigyFlip functions as the 5th. through 8th. copies of Snapcaster Mage. He can also be somewhat of a "budget" option, although he works best when you're playing both cards.

You'll also want Remands (likely 2 or more) at some point, but it's not high on the priority of cards to get. They act like Time Walks when your opponent taps out to play something and misses a land drop. This buys you time to lay down the beats with your small critters.

Ancestral Vision is also a solid pick. You're looking to stall the game out long enough to kill your opponent with 3/2s and 1/1s, why not refill your hand halfway through the game?

1 year ago

The problem with all those cards is that they only work when Aluren is already out. Their contribution without it is very limited or downright nonexistent. This is especially true for noncreature cards in Recruiter lists, since the main tutor only finds creatures, so they have to carry most of the deck's weight. If you're running red, Ghitu Slinger is a good choice; useful against many threats like Insectile Aberration, Dark Confidant, Young Pyromancer and the like (and especially against Magus of the Moon), and with Aluren it's a kill condition.

Genesis Chamber looks interesting, it may have potential against control decks. Could be a nice sideboard card in the right metagame. Sadly I've never tried it.

1 year ago

Skaab Ruinator fails to be good due two factors:- the opponent exiling the skaab is a real danger- building a deck to have enough creatures to exile from the grave is too restrictive. (if it would ask for exiling any card, this card would be a staple of modern)It would not compete with Insectile AberrationFlip, since the delver can be removed a lot easier and is unable to play defense against fatties like Tasigur, the Golden Fang, the titans, death shadow, and the like.

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